[masterofweirdness]

I like the changes. I have codex space marines, and while I liked the central armory list because (I just memorized the whole thing... I don't understand why all the other 14 year olds couldn't do it... I did! Heck, I even tried memorizing the 'nids army list and biomorphs!) it was easier if you knew the whole thing.

However... when I got Codex CSM... it wasn't to bad... ya, not all my sergeants can get lighting claws... but I wasn't going to give them LCs all the time anyways... I never had a copy of the 3rd ed. codex CSM but I do know that I liked this codex a LOT better than Codex Space marines... it had flexibility and lots of options (perhaps not as many option as the 3rd ed. codex though) and I could still give my sergeants and HQs what weapons I wanted to...

Also, some good things have happened... regarding LCs... yes, no LCs on CSM normal squads, but my aspiring champion for my Chosen gets LCs cheaper than before! VERY NICE! I now have as many LCs in my Chosen squads as I can... as well as other places... ya... one less bolt pistol... but I think that Lighting Claws are worth it.

Regarding the whole complicated versus simple rules, stupid generation and all that I'll say this: I've never played anything other than 4th edition, I was perhaps 12 when I first heard of 40k and 14 when I first got enough money/made the decision to buy the Battle of Mcragge... I'm now 16 and have no intention of quitting this amazing hobby... I LOVE it. Maybe its just the way I think, but when I get a hobby, its all or nothing. I memorize as much of the rules as possible and despite my hate of painting (at least, when I started painting my first models I did) I have done everything that most hobbyists do... I've bought, assembled, converted (a little) and painted my models... I've gotten my friends into the hobby, with one of my friends now having a nearly good 1.5k Black Templars army and the other a 1000pt Necron list...

As for dumbing down the rules, maybe GW has, I can understand and believe D_C and Steve when they say they have, but, consider this... 40k was supposedly very complicated and all those rules slowed down the game... even today 2.5K games take a LONG time to play... 1.5k games take 3-4 hours (or something like that... maybe faster or slower). GW wants us to buy models and the best way to do that is to make the game faster, IE simplifying the rules. And, I like it, ya, getting a 1.5k, even if you buy smart, build army lists with money in mind, use Ebay and Online retailers, isn't cheap. And most people (myself included!) have grand dreams of Apoc and entire chapters/regiments/Chaos Fleets and the like...

So ya, its an expesnive hobby, but so are lots of hobbies now... video games... you have to buy a computer/console (lets say an xbox elite... 500 dollars?) 3 more controllers... 150 dollars... 3 games... 180 dollars... 830 dollars... and you have to pay for Xbox Live every month. THAT is a lot of money... with that money I could buy a good sized 40k army, plus paints and modeling supplies.

In all honesty, I see no excuse for someone who can't build themselves an army list using a codex... its a simple prodecure really...